Mayhem

Utter chaos reigned in our house last night. I went to visit some friends up in Kazoo and took Annie with me, leaving Clint and Grace to an afternoon by themselves. It never fails - 1 time I take an afternoon off, I come back and the whole evening is shot to hel...ck. CRAZINESS was the name of the game last night.

We came back from retrieving a chair and a quick trip to Meijers about 8:30 last night. Annie has begun screaming (due to teething and being hungry) on the car ride home from Meijers and does not let up until inside with a bottle in her mouth and even then she was at the gasping, sobbing hiccuping stage so she was slurpin' the formula all over the place. We had stopped to get Grace a Happy Meal on the way home because of the late hour and she was in her jammies on the couch eating that, after having 2 very huge meltdowns that were Dora and jammie related - to add to the Annie chaos. She's begging for her drink, Clint hands it to her and tells her to be careful, which of course, she's 2 so - yeah. She spilled Sprite all over - the same time the phone rang. Clint did some yelping and had words for our darling, to which they BOTH responded by wailing. So, I had 2 crying girls in my lap, an angry husband moving the couch to clean up and a dog who responded to the whole situation by laying down completely in the middle of everything.

I got them both settled down, Annie finished her bottle and into jammies, very happy now. Grace finished her happy meal and into her jammies and just when I was pondering how I didn't think I could handle ANY MORE CRYING - Grace runs into her bedroom, completely unaware of the HUGE 80 pound dog in the middle of the floor, trips over him and lands face down onto the laminate. Wailing ensues.

I couldn't help it. I cracked up. It was either that - or CRACK UP. Her feet went so high into the air, I'm laughing about it now as I'm reliving it. She completely flipped.

This the girl, who, on Friday at the sitter's house ran down the hallway tripped over NOTHING but her own feet and slammed into the bathroom doorway. HUGE black and blue and green and yellow goose egg on her forehead.

Grace is no name for her :)

Awwww...

Even at 5 months, my younger daughter has learned the art of manipulation. She has this sort of shrieky scream (new this week) that she uses now because she has learned that it produces results quicker. I'm on to you honey!

So this morning, I put her in the carseat and we were off to get gas before going to daycare and she starts screaming this piercy shriek. At first Grace started laughing because it is quite comical sounding. But then she blessed my heart by saying things like, "Shhhh...it's okay, Annie, shhhh...it's okay!" all trying to soothe her sissy. To no avail - so she does what soothes her - she pulled out Dora Mermaid, leaned over and held the book out so Annie could see the pictures and began to read/recite the whole book to her. So in my rearview, Grace is bent over with the pictures stuck in Annie's face saying, "Hola, I'm Dora and this is my best friend, Boots..." - She "read" her the whole thing :) I was impressed with my compassionate little sweetie heart.

Course, when she stopped Annie started crying again. I suggested Grace give Annie her plug to help her calm down. I got the LOOK. Then Annie got the SIDEWAYS LOOK. And the plug stayed put.

Fire!

So we just had the fire alarm go off at work, but hey - I don't see anything or smell anything and all the employees around me come looking at me and say "Is that real? Do we have to go somewhere?" Hmmm good thing we have the fire alarm! No hotfooting out for the Glen Oakians!

Kudos to Moms

Ever since we came back from vacation - when I drop the girls off at the baby-sitters Grace just bawls her eyes out. Now, it is not easy being a working mom. Not easy at all. Early mornings for the kids, dressing them when they are half asleep, putting them in the car wrapped in blankets and eyelids drooping really sucks. BIG TIME - makes me feel tremendously guilty for putting them through that, but the one consolation I have always had is that Grace loves her babysitter and has never put up a fuss about staying. Now, all of a sudden at almost 3 years - she's crying and having fits because I'm leaving for work. I thought maybe the first week after we were back because we had been together for a whole week, but she has not let up and it makes me feel terrible!

I know that in this day, age and economy, staying home with the kids is really hard to do and Grace and Annemarie will be growing up in a different time than I did. My mom always worked, but mostly because my dad was in the ministry. If he'd pursued public education it probably would've been a different story. I can now empathize with my mom and kudos to all those moms out there who have to get their kiddos to daycare before 8am. And to the moms who are blessed enough to stay home - you are truly blessed and amazing for doing it. With all the guilt I feel about leaving my babies with someone else - I am also generally a tiny bit relieved because I know I would go crazy being a SAHM. Part-time would be the best option for me - part-time from about 11am - 5pm that paid full-time pay and full-time benefits would be ideal! ha ha

So - here's to ALL moms - it's not easy no matter what we do - stay at home or work - but we all deserve a pat on the back - I think!

All You, Baby!

So - my latest conquest in the coupon game: The ALL YOU magazine from Wal-Mart. This magazine ROCKS! It's geared towards families/moms and it has TONS of coupons! I counted up just the ones I clipped (which were most, but not all) and counted at least 60 dollars in savings! On stuff that we buy! Stuff like Tyson chicken nuggets, Uncrustables (RACH!), peanut butter, gum, cleaning products, Kraft items - it was awesome - it's a monthly magazine and I'm STOKED.



So - here's what rocked about the issue I purchased on Friday night: I bought the mag at WalMart for 1.77 - it has five coupons in it that are: Buy 3 Kraft, Nabisco or Oscar Meyer products get a specific item free. There were coupons for a free box of Wheat Thins, package of hot dogs, bottle of salad dressing, tub of Crystal Light and package of Kraft singles. I've seen and used these coupons before - last time it was buy three of the K, N or OM items - get 3.00 off a can of peanuts. Well - KOOL-Aid packets are made by Kraft and last week Kool-Aid packets were on sale for 10 cents each. Sooooo....I buy 3 packets of 10 cent Kool-Aid and got a box of Wheat Thins for free! :) I did that for each of the coupons which translates into: 1.50 + 1.77 (for the magazine) = 3.27 paid for: 15 packets of Kool-Aid, Wheat Thins, Ranch Salad Dressing, Cheese Singles, Crystal Light and Hot Dogs...



I'm getting high reliving it!

Tantrum Envy

I called my baby-sitter this morning to relay some info and, as always, I ask how my girls are doing. Especially Grace right now, because she is just flat out ornery! We haven't dealt too much with the jealousy bug over Annie yet, but it's a comin' the older Annie gets and the more attention she needs. She's to the interesting point of being a baby - smiling, cooing, talking, rolling over. No longer is she just eating and sleeping - consquently affections must be shared and Grace is none too happy.

So, I was talking to the baby-sitter asking how the girls were doing and all of a sudden I could hear a fit being thrown. I knew it was Grace - I recognize my girl's fits. I said something to the effect of, "Oh there she goes now." And the DCP (daycare provider) said "Yeah, I just took her fork away."

Okay - why don't I get to throw a fit when someone throws my fork away??? Why can't I abandon all inhibitions and let my true feelings out when things don't go my way??? How nice to be a 2 year old and not have to suppress your emotions to be socially acceptable. I'm not saying that I want to throw fits or am evening having tantrums in my mind - but boy! The option would be nice every once in a while. Even if it is over something as trite as a fork!

Jiggedy Jig

Home again, Home again. Yeah, we've been back from vacation for about 4 days now and like everything else (ie laundry, dishes, unpacking) I'm just now starting to get caught back up. Some people come home and unpack everything, put it away, do all the laundry and are ready for the new week before it comes...not so at the Young house, although I wouldn't mind getting my act together that way. At the Young house, we're still on vacation till Monday and consequently, here it is Wednesday and the laundry is just now going to get put away. Tonight. Hopefully. I have a really hard time crashing back into reality. I actually have to be forced into it, kicking, screaming and clawing.

Vacation rocked. We all went up to the most beautiful lake - Lake Leelanau. It's FREAKING huge. Takes 1 hour in a fishing boat just to get down 1/3 of the lake. The house we stayed at was awesome - fit all 8 of us so comfortably and had a deck and yard completely in the sun. The lakefront was so shallow Gracie could still touch all the way to the end of the dock - which was about 100 yards long - easy. Normally, I'm not a big fan of swimming in lakes other than the Great Lakes- I just can't stand the muck and turtle poop, I prefer the sand and rocks. So in years past on vacation, I pretty much just swim the day we head to Lake Michigan. This lake front was all sand as far as I could touch - even as far as Jeff could touch. Awesome. We swam everyday and I have the sunburn to prove it!

The only kink in our week in the lap of Lake Leelanau luxury was my 2 year old who wanted to go home on Wednesday. Grace was perfect - sweet, compliant, excited the first half of the week and then she started saying "I want to go home." Yikes! Why on earth? I couldn't figure out, but she said it about 4 times on Wednesday and the rest of the week went downhill from there. Fussy, crying, getting into trouble, balking at EVERYTHING except her Dora videos. Sheesh. It was tough and the hardest part is, I felt so horrible that she was acting that way and everyone had to be a part of it! Once we got home, after about 3 hours she was back to normal. I guess I just didn't realize how much Grace needed her routine and her home surroundings.

But despite Gracie's actions it was a great week of relaxing, tanning and doing whatever we wanted. Clint and I saw Mamma Mia! one night (we all had a date night :) and it took a while to get used to seeing James Bond singing, but having listened to ABBA's greatest hits EVERY Sunday morning before church while growing up, I loved it! :) Took Clint a while to attach though, so I promised him I'd go and see the Dark Night - although I'm a little nervous about the dreams I'll be having. Creepy clown makeup tends to bother me. Not to mention psychotic villians.

Tough to come back to reality. All I want to do is lay out in the sun! Maybe I'll be sick tomorrow!